Morgaine le Fey was a powerful and evil sorceress hailing from Arthurian times. Her one goal is to put her son, Mordred, on the throne of Camelot (and by extension, the world) - a quest that she had worked ceaselessly for centuries to fulfill. She hid her true features behind an exquisite mask.

Contents

History

In the days of when King Arthur held the throne of Camelot, Morgaine le Fey, unmasked, began a romantic relationship with one of his knights, Jason Blood. However, she had sinister plans in store for Camelot, and later fought Etrigan and Shining Knight.

Morgaine gives Jason the "viper's kiss".

Morgaine and her army of monsters attacked King Arthur's castle in an attempt to place her only son, Mordred, on the throne. Arthur's forces held out against the invading army. However, Jason Blood betrayed Camelot for his love and allowed Morgaine and her army to storm the castle. She betrayed him by poisoning Jason Blood with a viper's kiss.

Camelot fell that day due to Morgaine's invasion. However, she either would not or possibly could not place Mordred on the throne without the legendary artifact known as the Philosopher's Stone. The wizard Merlin hid the artifact in an arc.

The warning brooch.

Hence, Morgaine and Mordred were forced to search throughout the world for the Philosopher's Stone for centuries, all the while being pursued by the demon Etrigan, who became bound to Jason Blood after Merlin cursed the dying knight to hunt down Morgaine for as long as it took. Fortunately for Morgaine, she had a brooch (described by Etrigan as a sensing amulet) that shone whenever he approached, allowing her to effectively evade him at every turn. She had, apparently, cast a spell that allowed her and Mordred to live forever, but while Mordred had the aspect of eternal youth through her spell, she did not, and was forced to drain youth from young people to preserve her own.

Morgaine and Mordred finally found where it was hidden from a librarian in Gotham City. The duo traveled to Castle Branek only to discover Merlin's arc empty. Morgaine and Mordred realised that one of the archaeologists who excavated Castle Branek must have taken the stone for themselves. At that same time, Etrigan had recruited the Justice League for assistance. J'onn J'onzz attempted to locate le Fey with his telepathy. However, her sorcery overpowered his telepathic skills and he became bound to Morgaine, constantly being tormented with visions of his homeworld being restored by Morgaine.

After being attacked by Etrigan, Batman and J'onn at one of the archaeologists home, she fled to the other during a Halloween party. Finally, Morgaine found the Philosopher's Stone. As Morgaine reached out for it, Wonder Woman pulled it back and kept it. Morgaine turned the party's host, Harv Hickman into a giant worm creature to deal with the Amazon Princess. As she fought the beast, Morgaine again attempted to grab the Stone only to be hit in the back by Etrigan. The opportunity allowed for Wonder Woman to escape with the stone. Morgaine, enraged, blew the playboy mansion into splinters.

Now Morgaine was prepared to use the Martian to get the Stone for her. After sending her army of monsters to the Watchtower, J'onn could not stand it anymore and took the Philosopher's Stone. With the knowledge that the stone would soon be in her grasp, Morgaine turned London into a kingdom for Mordred. J'onn brought the Stone to Morgaine but he was stopped by the Justice League. Morgaine and Mordred defeated Batman, Wonder Woman and Flash. Having penetrated Etrigan's mind while fighting him, J'onn saw how Morgaine had betrayed Jason with false love centuries ago, and came to realize that he was being led on the same path Jason was on. He crushed the Philosopher's Stone in front of Morgaine and Mordred before they could take it. Though she was initially dismayed, Morgaine announced that she and her son might have lost the battle, but not the war, and disappeared.

With the Philosopher's Stone gone, Morgaine and Mordred searched for other means to place Mordred on the throne, while the would-be King grew steadily impatient. Morgaine and Mordred finally managed to find a charm that would place Mordred on the throne — the Amulet of First Magic. Mordred took the amulet for himself and cast his mother aside, banishing her and all adults to another dimension.

Morgaine managed to find the Justice League and request for their assistance against Mordred. She transformed Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and John Stewart into children to fight her son. The Justice League succeeded by tricking Mordred into becoming an adult himself and thus banishing himself. The world became free of Mordred's influence and all adults were returned.

Morgaine kept her end of the bargain with the Justice League and turned them back into their former selves. She left with her older son to their home in an unknown castle. Mordred's transformation into an adult cost him his eternal youth and all the years that this kept him from aging had caught up with him, leaving him an old man who could only grow older, though he would live forever under the care of his mother.

Powers and abilities

Morgaine is an extremely powerful and knowledgeable sorceress as well as an expert manipulator. Examples of her formidable abilities are:

Telepathy: Morgaine's telepathy was so advanced that it overpowered that of J'onn's, and even enabled her to consistently tempt him into betraying his friends through visions and illusions. J'onn was only able to break free of her control after he had penetrated Etrigan's mind and witnessed her betrayal of Jason Blood centuries ago.

Youth Absorption: Morgaine had the ability to drain youth from others to preserve her own.

Spell Casting: Morgaine was able to cast spells that could alter reality as a whole, though she required all-powerful magical artifacts such as the Philosopher's Stone to make her spells permanent.